USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > Discovery and conquests of the Northwest, with the history of Chicago, Vol. II > Part 43
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In 1834 Mr. Kinzie was made first president of Chicago under a village organization. In 1841 he was made registrar of public lands by President William Henry Harrison (Old Tippecanoe). In 1849 President Zachary Taylor appointed him receiver of public mon- eys and depositary, which office he resigned at the
* The following is a quotation from a letter written to the writer, by his daughter, Mrs. Nellie Kinzie Gordon : "My father had occa- sion to go, in the early 50's, to Prairie du Chien. The Mississippi boat stopped ' to wood' and, although there was no settlement, only a rough landing, my father, seeing some Indians on the bank, went ashore. He entered into conversation (in Indian) with a lad about sixteen years old, who grinned and seemed very delighted. My father said to him, 'Do you know who I am?' ' You are Shaw-nee-aw-kee,' the boy replied. As my father had never seen the boy before, and had not been in that part of the country for twenty years, he was puzzled to find himself recognized. 'How do you know I am Shaw-nee-aw-kee? You never saw me before.' 'No,' answered the boy, 'but we have all been told about you in our tribe. We have a description of you, and we know you talk our language.'"'
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opening of the civil war, to accept the appointment by President Lincoln of paymaster in the army in 1861, with supervision of Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois, with rank of major and headquarters at Chicago. In 1864 he was made lieutenant colonel. During this period his two eldest sons, John and Arthur, volun- teered in the civil war. John entered the navy. He was on the gunboat "Mound City" under Admiral Davis when the Confederate fort on White river, Arkansas, was captured. A shot of the enemy penetrated the boiler of the "Mound City," and an explosion was the result, throwing ninety-seven men into the water, scalded and dying ; whereupon the Union forces sent a hospital boat to the rescue; but regardless of the ordinary rules of war, the sharpshooters of the Confed- erate fort took deadly aim at the helpless victims, and shot many of them while struggling in the water. Young Kinzie was shot as he was being lifted into the boat. Hearing shouts of victory, he asked : "Have we taken the fort ? Then I am ready to die now." He drew his last breath at sunrise next morning, June 18, 1862. The other son, Arthur, was taken prisoner of war by General Forrest at Memphis, Tenn. He died at Riverside, Ill., in the spring of 1902, leaving Mrs. Nellie Kinzie Gordon last survivor of the seven chil- dren. The cruel death of the patriotic son John gave his parents a shock from which they never recovered ; but Mr. Kinzie continued in his arduous labors till the spring of 1865, when his health began to fail and, obtaining a leave of absence, he started for a mountain resort in the east, accompanied by his wife, daughter, Mrs. Nellie Gordon, and son Arthur. As the train which carried them approached Pittsburg, a blind fid- dler came into the car asking alms. Mr. Kinzie put his hand in his pocket to get his purse. Before he had withdrawn it his head fell forward, and he expired instantly. His death took place June 21, 1865.
Nelly Ringier Gordon
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Mr. Kinzie was the last survivor of those who beheld the Chicago massacre. He belonged to the heroic age of Chicago's history. He had seen Chicago when it was but a defenseless fort, and had seen it as an Indian village. He had seen it as a metropolis of the fur trade. He had seen it when it had more Indian wigwams than houses for white people. He had seen it when temperance societies and public schools were not thought of here, and he lived to see it the great commercial emporium of the northwest. His death was universally lamented.
Mrs. Juliette A. Kinzie, his wife, died after a short illness September 15, 1870, at Amagansett, on Long Island, where she with her grandchildren and her daughter, Mrs. Gordon, were spending the summer. Her remains were brought to Chicago, and laid beside her husband and children in Graceland cemetery. Her husband had helped build up Chicago in a material and moral way. She had been foremost in building it up in a literary and artistic way. There would be a chasm in Chicago history without brief biographies of Mr. and Mrs. John Harris Kinzie.
Their only daughter, Mrs. Nellie Kinzie Gordon, the last surviving member of their family, is now living in Savannah, Ga., the wife of Brig .- Gen. William W. Gordon, a native of Savannah. They were married in Chicago, December 21, 1857. General Gordon was made a brigadier general by President Mckinley, at the beginning of the Spanish-American war; he served under General Fitzhugh Lee, until he was appointed peace commissioner to Porto Rico, together with Maj .- Gen. John R. Brooke and Rear-Admiral Winfield S. Schley, by President Mckinley, in July, 1898.
In a letter to the writer, Mrs. Gordon says : "My Grandmother Kinzie, who saved Mrs. Heald's life by secreting her in the bottom of the boat wherein the
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Kinzie family were rescued, and my aunt, Margaret Helm (sister to my father), were in the thick of the fight in the Chicago massacre."
Mrs. Gordon inherited the true military and patri- otic spirit of the Kinzie family, and was foremost in planning for the comfort, and ministering personally to the wants of the sick soldiers in the southern camps during the Spanish war. She is yet in the prime of her usefulness, and a worthy representative of the founders of Chicago.
PRESIDENT WM. R. HARPER
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO.
In 1890 the site of the present University was a tract of swamp land, comprising four city blocks, located between Fifty-seventh and Fifty-ninth streets and Ellis and Lexington avenues, in the city of Chicago. Across this tract there ran diagonally a little sand ridge, which was marked by a small grove of scrub oaks, which seemed to thrive despite the unfavorable environment. This tract was surrounded on all sides by prairie, desolate and uninviting. If there was any- thing predominant it was sand, which appeared cropping out from the soil here and there, or in greater abund- ance where a street had been surveyed or a sidewalk. planned.
In 1902 twenty stone buildings, with red tiled roofs, are to be seen; the buildings constructed of an Indiana limestone which, softening under the influence of the. climate, quickly gives to the comparatively new build- ings an aspect of age not to be secured elsewhere except after many years. As a foretaste of what is to be expected when the plan of the founders is fully realized, there is one great portal of stone, barred by heavy iron gates, which prophesy the time when the University precincts will be entered only through such openings, being otherwise shut out from the busy world around. On top of this gateway are grinning gargoyles and fierce dragons-an element of mediaval life transplanted into the midst of the great city of the prairies. The main entrance to the University grounds is from what is known as the Midway Plaisance, for
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a short time an unsavory term, because it recalled the many freaks of the World's Fair of 1893, but now a part of the great South Park system of the city, which includes two great parks, with the Plaisance as a connecting link. Near by are pleasant homes and paved streets and concrete sidewalks-every one of these improvements being the work of less than ten years.
While these striking facts indicate the newness which marks the University of Chicago, yet there are some roots which are buried quite deep in the past. During the years 1857 to 1886 there was in the city what was called the Chicago University, an institution founded by the Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, who earnestly hoped that the principal city of his state might become the seat of a great institution of learning. Financial difficulties surrounded this University almost from its inception, and finally, after a heroic struggle, its trus- tees were compelled to close its doors in 1886, leaving behind a record of substantial work accomplished, as evidenced by a list of alumni, many of them men and women of prominence in the growing city. This "Old University," as it is called, had hardly closed its doors before efforts were begun to establish a new institu- tion, freed from the financial difficulties, but working substantially on the lines of the old. The alumni of the Chicago University felt the desirability of a revival of their Alma Mater, and when the plans for the new University of Chicago were first formulated, one of the conditions which were made by the trustees was that the alumni of the old Chicago University might be recognized as graduates of the new University of Chicago, if they made formal request for such recognition.
In addition to its collegiate basis in past history, there flourished between the years 1860 and 1892 what was known as the Baptist Union Theological Seminary, started as an adjunct of the Chicago University and
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established during the first years of its history, just across the street from the campus of the University proper. The institution afterward was located in Mor- gan Park, a suburb about fourteen miles away. This seminary had a large number of graduates, many of them leaders of thought and life in the Baptist denomi- nation, particularly in the west. As the existence of
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the old University was recognized in the conditions already mentioned, so it was early provided that if the new University were to be established in Chicago, the Baptist Union Theological Seminary should become the divinity school, and, furthermore, should be brought into close proximity with the institution by being moved from its suburban home to the University grounds. (5)
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But while these elements of strength came from the past history, adding at once a large body of alumni upon whose interest the institution could count, it is nevertheless true that in its conception and develop- ment the University of Chicago is essentially a child of only ten years of age. The initial movement seems to have been made, as has already been stated, in connec- tion with the ending of the old University. Mr. John D. Rockefeller, of New York city, a prominent Baptist layman, who had long been known for his quiet and unostentatious gifts to education and religion, held a conference with Professor William R. Harper, of Yale University, in regard to the possibility of establishing a new college. Several locations were carefully con- sidered, but it was soon very clear to their minds that the seat of the institution should be Chicago, which gave every evidence of rapid growth and from its geo- graphical situation seemed to hold the key to the edu- cational situation of the west. This was in the year 1888, and the same year marked the organization of what was known as the American Baptist Education Society, a society formed in Washington in May, 1888, with the express purpose of establishing a college in Chicago, and also stimulating the friends of other Baptist institutions by conditional offers of money to them, the plan being for the society to offer to give a certain sum of money to an institution on condition that the friends of the institution would raise a similar amount before a given day. All the preliminary arrangements for the establishment of the University of Chicago, therefore, were under the direction of this society. The secretary was Mr. Fred T. Gates, who was early impressed with the importance of the great work which the society had undertaken.
After much conference, in 1889 a committee of nine prominent men was appointed to examine into the scope of the proposed institution, the location, the funds required for a substantial foundation, and the
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extent to which the Education Society could wisely co-operate in the undertaking. This committee of nine was composed of Dr. William R. Harper, profes- sor of semitics and Biblical literature in Yale Univer- sity ; Dr. Alvah Hovey, president of Newton Theolog- ical Institution ; Dr. H. G. Weston, president of Crozer Theological Seminary ; Dr. J. M. Taylor, President of Vassar College ; Dr. E. B. Andrews, professor of his- tory in Cornell University ; Hon. C. L. Colby, a promi-
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nent Baptist layman ; and Dr. Samuel W. Duncan, Dr. H. L. Morehouse and Rev. J. F. Elder, leading Baptist ministers. This committee gave the subject which was referred to it most careful consideration, and in 1889 made an elaborate report, which resulted in the adop- tion of a series of resolutions by the Education Society, that the proposed institution should be established. These resolutions had hardly been adopted when Mr. Rockefeller, on May 15, 1889, offered to give $600,000
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as an endowment fund for the new institution, pro- vided that $400,000 in addition be secured from friends of the project, this additional money to be used in the purchase of land and the erection of buildings. When the committee of the Education Society took up the work of canvassing it very quickly found the response so sympathetic that it was early seen that the plan to establish a college in Chicago would have to be aban- doned in favor of a wider one for the establishment of a university.
The subscriptions came so rapidly and in such large sums as to astonish those who had undertaken the work. It is doubtful whether in any educational movement in the world such large sums were raised so quickly, the climax coming when, on an appeal to the citizens of Chicago for money for the erection of build- ings for the institution, over $1,000,000 was secured within ninety days.
The institution was formally opened on October 1, 1892, no elaborate ceremony being held, but the routine work beginning after a very simple prayer service, into the spirit of which all who were present entered. A charter had been secured from the legislature ; Pro- fessor William R. Harper, of Yale University, had been elected president, and a staff of instructors, gathered from many institutions in the United States and in for- eign lands, had been assembled. It would be uninter- esting to go into greater detail in regard to the prelim- inary history which was made during the years 1888 to 1892, but it will be sufficient to note that when the doors opened in October, 1892, 500 students were in attendance, and an endowment fund of several millions of dollars was provided.
It might have been expected that a committee of experienced educators, charged with the work of lay- ing the foundations of an institution of learning which had no traditions to curb it and which had promise
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of a large endowment, would study carefully the exist- ing institutions of the world, and seek to select from those elements which time had proved to be valuable, omitting many things which had grown comparatively useless during the course of years. Looking back- ward over the decade, and comparing the preliminary announcements with the results, it is astonishing to note how carefully the plans were laid, and how prac-
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tical experience has shown the desirability of what in many cases was set forth as problematical only.
As a method of advertising the proposed institu- tion, and at the same time securing the criticism of the many hundreds of men and women in America who were engaged in educational work, the preliminary announcements were made through a series of bul- letins; one making the general announcements, another
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describing the proposed colleges of the University, another the graduate schools, another the academy, and others the divinity school, the University exten- sion, and the University press. The first of these bulletins, which contained the general announcements, proclaimed that the University was to be carried on under three general divisions: The University proper, the University extension work, and the University pub- lication work. The University proper was to consist of academies, colleges, affiliated colleges and schools, this latter term being an elastic one, providing for non-professional graduate instruction, as well as for instruction in theology, law, medicine, and for schools of engineering, pedagogy, fine arts, music and other branches of culture. The University extension work was to include regular courses of lectures given in groups of six or twelve, according to the plan which had been followed in England, and to some extent in the United States; evening courses, where small groups of people were to meet under the direction of an instructor, this work approaching closely the work done in the daytime on the University grounds; and cor- respondence courses where, in such lines of investiga- tion as were suitable, instructions were to be given through the mails to students in any part of the world. The University publication work was to include the printing and publishing of all University announce- ments, and also the more dignified work of publishing special and technical periodicals devoted to the inter- ests of investigation along the lines of the principal departments of the University. This general plan thus announced has been carried out during the years of the University's history.
The American educational system is marked by certain familiar characteristics, which do not need description, and perhaps it will be as well to indicate in what respects the University of Chicago differs from the type of the ordinary American college. The most
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striking characteristic, perhaps, is what is called the quarter system. While as a rule the college year is divided into three terms, familiarly known as the autumn, winter and spring terms, the summer months being given up to a long vacation, in the case of the University of Chicago it was decided at the beginning that the year should be divided into four quarters, beginning on the first day of July, October, January
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and April, and containing twelve weeks each, thus leaving a week between the closing of one quarter and the beginning of the next; and to meet the require- ments of those who might wish to attend the institution even for a shorter period, it was provided that the quarter should be divided into terms of six weeks each.
The reasons for this change were obvious, it being felt that the long summer vacation was entirely dispro- portionate to the working year, and that it was econom- ically unjust to have a large educational plant closed
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for a fourth part of the time. There was another ele- ment which favored the adoption of the quarter system, and that was the widening of opportunity for the stu- dents, it being felt that if credits in the institution were reckoned not according to college years, as under the old plan, but according to the number of studies taken, it would be possible for the student to attend one or two quarters of the year and spend the rest of the time working to secure means to pay for his education. In like manner it would be possible for the ambitious and earnest students to shorten the time for the college degree, the minimum of which under the old plan was four years ; so that the records of the University indi- cate that some students have been able to secure the bachelor's degree from the University by attending ten consecutive quarters, or two and one-half calendar years. While this latter plan is never recommended, and is exceptional, yet the possibilities are indicated by the cases which have actually occurred.
The bearing of the quarter system upon the mem- bers of the faculty is also notable, it being possible so to distribute the force of each department as to allow the instructors to take their vacations at different times of the year. Under the old plan the summer vacation was the only one possible ; under the quarter system, one teacher, who is interested in political science, is able to take a vacation during the winter time, thus going to Washington, to be present during the session of congress and to see the actual workings of the govern- ment of the United States. Another one may take a vacation during the winter quarter, owing to physical conditions, the climate of Chicago being too severe for him. Or another one may make a special trip to Europe during the spring, to accomplish some particu- lar end. The actual service demanded of an instructor is for three quarters only, but provision is made by which, if a teacher continues to give instruction during a longer period than nine months he is allowed either
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LEON MANDEL ASSEMBLY HALL REYNOLDS CLUB HOUSE
THE UNIVERSITY TOWER THE UNIVERSITY COMMONS
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to receive extra pay for this service, thus adding to the amount of his salary, or to accumulate vacations, which, under the proper adjustment in the department itself, may be taken at a given time, a member of the staff thus being able to spend six or nine months, or even a year in special study, at the same time receiving his salary and providing for the expense of his absence.
There are certain features of the system, however, which will appear at once ; the most striking of which is the entire absence of classes. The familiar terms, "Freshman," "Sophomore," "Junior " and "Senior " find no place in the curriculum of the University of Chicago ; and likewise, when the names of the students are printed they are not published in class sections, as in the ordinary institution. The result is that there is none of the class spirit which prevails in most American colleges, and the lines which are drawn there are entirely wanting. Friendships are formed on different foundations, and since the inevitable result of the quarter system is, that as students may begin at any time, they may finish at any time, there are graduating groups four times a year, and it is yet a question what the influence of the lack of class relationship may have upon the loyalty of the alumni body. To make up for the lack of classes, it has come to be an unwritten rule that students graduating at either the October, January, April or July convocation are counted as members of the class graduating in July.
The undergraduate body is divided into two parts, those having eighteen credits or less being called jun- ior college students, and those having more than eighteen credits being called senior college students. After a like plan, the students of each college, junior or senior, are grouped into divisions, numbered from 1 to 6, these divisions being based upon the amount of credit which the student has upon the books of the University. These divisions most nearly approximate the ordinary college class lines.
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The government of the University is in charge of the various bodies whose names suggest the field of their jurisdiction. Thus there are several faculties, such as United Faculties, the Faculty of the Divinity
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School, the Faculty of the Junior Colleges, the Faculty of the Ogden Graduate School of Science. There are several boards, administrative in nature, such as the Board of Libraries, Laboratories and Museums ; the
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Board of Student Organizations, Publications and Exhibitions ; the Board of Affiliations ; the Board of Physical Culture and Athletics (four student represent- atives being given seats). Two special bodies are the University Senate and the University Council, the former having jurisdiction in all matters affecting the educational policy of the institution, the latter having the same relation to the administrative policy. Each of the various faculties and boards has a meeting once a month. There is a special body called the Uni- versity Congregation, which promises to become of much power in the future. Membership in it is open to all of the teaching staff who rank above associate, to all doctors of philosophy of the University, and to a cer- tain number of alumni, elected each year by the mem- bers of the alumni association. The Congregation often has lively discussions, and frequently recom- mends action to the particular faculties concerned.
The members of the faculty of the University are classed according to title, the enrollment under each head according to the last annual register being, pro- fessors, 71; professorial lecturers, 16; associate or assistant professors, 64; instructors, 48; associates, assistants and others, 87; making a total of 286.
Besides affording opportunity for study during the summer as well as during the winter the University, by means of the University Extension, reaches out to thousands in their homes, who are unable to get the advantages given students in residence. This division of the work embraces lecture study and correspond- ence study. The first is carried on by peripatetic lecturers, who go from place to place, giving lectures in courses of six or twelve. These lectures are accom- panied by study features in the shape of syllabi, or outlines printed with references and suggestive notes, and by traveling libraries, or small collections of books, which bear upon the particular subject treated, for unlike the popular lyceum course of lectures, where
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